Contract diver for Mel Fisher?

[BeachJunkie]

I will be doing one last deployment to Afghanistan with the army this spring and upon returning will be looking for a job. I've already done the searches and started the threads on being a DM and instructor and starting a business and heard all the pro's and con's of it. (like being broke) But, I was wondering if anyone has any experience, or knows of anyone who has, worked for the Mel Fisher group diving on the Atocha wreck and such. I was looking at thier site and was considering it. 400 dollars a week isn't much, but when food is covered and you're living on a boat, and diving all day every day, it all goes into your pocket. Since I'll already have a lot of money saved, and no bills. I thought this might be a really interesting way to spend some time. Anyone have any input on this? done it? Suggestions to pursue or not to and why? Thanks in advance!

 

[CC1020]

I'm interested to hear more about this myself...

 

[Garrobo]

I have been kicking this idea about the same thing for some time, not to work for them, but to buy into a share. I've gotten some information by email of the opportunities they have to offer. If I got it right, you plunk down your $10.000.00, dive with them for a short while and recieve a cut of the total findings at the end of the year. If there was a way to honestly tally the value of their gross findings and they stumbled onto the bulk of the treasure supposedly still on the Marguarita, you'd be in for a pretty good payday. I saw a TV program about this same thing a while back. Of course you have to take this sort of program with a grain of salt since it is also an advertisement for the Mel Fisher Company. Originally, I was interested in diving with them for a month or so as an investor (so as to get in some extended bottom time) but I don't think that they were that interested. I figure that they are looking for new investors to keep the ball rolling.

 

[Nick_W]

Serious question. Have you ever lived on a boat?

 

[Guba]

BeachJunkie, I've gotta admit, that's a great dive dream...I sincerely hope that if you want it to happen, it happens! I imagine they'll be looking for folks with quite a bit more dive experience (involving searches, recovery, and science diving, etc...) but if you're willing to get what is needed, GO FOR IT!
By the way, thanks for your service. A grateful nation stands in your debt, and you've made my prayer list. Bless you.

 

[covediver]

Thanks for your service. Our soldiers from Fort Richardson are returning from their deployment and we are all touched and appreciative of what our soldiers like you have done.

I hope that you can make your dream come true. Fischer's story kind of inspired me as a kid and as a new diver. His discovery turned me into an Atocha junkie. I have read everything I can about the wreck, visited the museum in Key West, and hope to dive on the site someday, but as a visitor not as a diver. A good treasure story still gets me to going. Good luck with your endeavor.

 

[Meng_Tze]

... I figure that they are looking for new investors to keep the ball rolling.

you are probably right here

 

[DennisS]

If you've got some money in the bank, don't have a steady job lined up, give it a try. You've earned the right to go out and follow your dream for awhile. It's a good time in your life to do it. The thing about heading in that direction is you never know where it will lead. I came to Florida, after 4 yrs in the Air Force, wanting to be a treasure diver 35 years ago, I poked around a few ballast piles but never really became a treasure diver. One thing led to another, time went by and now I'm retired from NOAA. I know there's a ballast scatter out there with my name on it, I'm still looking.

 

[Drewski]

Look at it this way: will there ever be another time in your life that you will have this opportunity? Probably NOT. So, TODAY is the DAY!

I first met Mel in 1975 when I was 12. Back then, it was a shoestring operation that not many knew or cared about. Now, of course, that's not the case. Even with Mel gone, his "dream" lives on. I always thought these guys were more about TRYING to find stuff than actually finding it, LOL.

Keep in mind, however, that this is a TOUGH job that will wear you out on a daily basis. It's NOTHING like being a DM or having a "cushy" instructor job. You will spend long hours underwater, have your skin rubbed raw by saltwater and break out from the little "critter" bites, get sea sick, sick of diesel fumes, sick of the food, sick of the SAME people on the boat, some who WILL have "attitude" about you being the FNG. Oh yeah, it's a REAL pleasure cruise.

BUT, if you get through all of that, one day many years from now when you see a History Channel program on Mel's outfit and the Atocha you can look at your kids and say "YEP, I dived with those guys..."

THAT, alone is worth it...

Good Luck...

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Might as well go for it, you probably won't have another time in your life when you will be able to. One of the guys my husband used to dive with worked on the Atocha crew, if I understand the story correctly he was working with them when they found it. He showed me a ring Mel had made for the crew. It looks like a class ring, is made from gold found on the wreck and has one of the emeralds for a stone. Even years later that's something he can show people and tell the stories of the work they did. Maybe you can have a similar opportunity.
Ber :lilbunny: